1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates broadly to automated distribution of stacked foliage. More particularly, the present invention relates to a metering stack feeder and method for cutting a selected amount of foliage from a stack disposed upon the feeder at a selected rate and subsequently conveying the cut foliage from the feeder, such as into a windrow upon the ground for range feeding of livestock. The present invention also comprises weighing each loaded stack, predetermining the amount of foliage to be fed providing a continuous readout of the amount of foliage being fed and issuing a signal when the correct amount has later been fed.
2. Prior Art
Powdered foliage stack cutters of the prior art have been carried by a transporting wagon equipped with stack loading and advancing conveyors, along with a lateral conveyor to transport cut foliage from the wagon onto the ground or elsewhere for feeding or processing. See. U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,051; 3,773,269; 3,830,438 and 4,037,740. These prior art stack cutters have been constrained to a single fixed cutting pattern and at a fixed rate at which cutting occurs. None suggest or imply a need or capability for adjustment in the speed of the cutter blade, the depth of cut, the pattern of the cut or the rate of displacement of the cutter. Most of said stack feeders have cutting means at the ends of cantilevered supports, thereby providing cutting means which are only capable of vertical movement. This frequently results in clogging and binding between the cutter and a cut by the cutter as well as interference between the stack per se and the cutter during the return stroke of the cutter, if any. U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,269 is the one exception, its cutter blade traveling in a roughly polygonal path which requires complex driving mechanisms. The cutters (see the reciprocating sickle blade cutters of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,741,051 and 3,830,438 and the knives of U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,740) and the mechanisms by which each of the cited patents is driven are generally complex or of somewhat obsolete, inefficient character with limited capacity.
All of said prior art approaches have utilized to substantial extent an angular cut, top to bottom and do not teach the capacity nor the advantages of making a selectively controlled zig-zag cutting pattern. None of the patents disclose the concept of selectively varying the cut so as to meter the amount of feed displaced by the lateral conveyor depending upon such factors as density and food value. U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,740 requires a plurality of opposed blades for cutting transversely across a stack, and raking means upon the an elevated lateral conveyor to dislodge and discharge the cut foliage from the wagon by tumbling it down the side of the stack. The remaining patented prior art proposals each require a cutter of substantial width and length, two requiring a cutter equal to or greater than the width of the stack and the other requiring a blade with at least equal width to one-half the width of the stack and all three require either a separate vibrator or flipper or a rotating deflector to cause the hay being sliced to separate from the stack and the cutter and fall upon the lateral conveyor. Because of the precise complex pattern of displacement of the blade of U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,269, it is incapable of being displaced upward other than when contiguous with the right side of the stack and, therefore, cannot be used to directly retract into an elevated position with the cutter severing any interfering hay during said retraction. Further, neither of the cutting mechanisms of U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,051; 3,830,438 and 4,037,740 has any capacity whatsoever to cut interfering foliage from the stack or otherwise while being retracted to the elevated position.
None of the prior art teaches the need for knowing the weight of the stack for an accurate feeding program without traveling to expensive scales in a central weighing area, nor do they mention a need or a method for predetermining the amount of hay to be fed per head. The prior art does not teach any way of knowing when the correct amount of hay has been fed even if one could predetermine the amount. Also, the prior art fails to teach keeping of a foliage inventory during the harvesting and the feeding season. The prior art teaches generally a semi-automatic feeding method with little or no manual manipulation possible of the various operations of the stack cutters if for any reason, such as a low stack wherein it takes the blade time to work its way down into the stack, the operator desires to override the system.